Bill Nighy Talks ‘Love Actually’ and Red Nose Day

Bill Nighy spoke with Huffington Post in a Build Series interview to promote the highly-anticipated upcoming mini-sequel to the hit classic, Love Actually. The short film is set to air on Red Nose Day and benefit Comic Relief, which works to end child poverty and promote better health and education.

Nighy (Rufus Scrimgeour) joins cast members Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth, Lúcia [Moniz], Andrew Lincoln, and Chiwetel Ejiofor in reprising their famous roles. And he makes a point to let fans know that Liam and Hugh’s bits are not to be missed!

That’s exciting news for fans who will be tuning in May 25th to see what their favorites are up to 14 years later, though, for many, it will be bittersweet as they mourn the absence of fellow Harry Potter alums Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson.

Leaky reported last month that Emma Thompson and director Richard Curtis decided there was no appropriate way to work in her character, known for playing Karen, long-suffering wife to Rickman’s Harry. She told E Online:

“Richard [Curtis] wrote to me and said, ‘Darling, we can’t write anything for you because of Alan,’ and I said, ‘No of course, it would be sad, too sad…It’s too soon. It’s absolutely right because it’s supposed to be for Comic Relief but there isn’t much comic relief in the loss of our dear friend really only just over a year ago…We thought and thought but it just seemed wrong…”

But, fans have not been left in the dark completely. In 2015 it was revealed that the couple overcame Harry’s extra-marital office relationship to stay together. Though not a ‘happily ever after,’ per se, it’s certainly a satisfying answer for curious fans as to their fate.

@JPerlstrom they stay together but home isn’t as happy as it once was.

— emma freud (@emmafreud) December 13, 2015

As for details regarding his own character, pop star and one-hit wonder Billy Mack, Nighy preferred to keep quiet and, instead, speak passionately of the charity and the children they hope to save. Listen to the interview and his plea below.

And before supporting Nighy and Love Actually cast members by tuning in and contributing to an incredibly worth cause, consider catching him in his new film, Their Finest, in U.S. theaters April 7th and set to release in UK theaters April 21st.

Leaky provided the following synopsis of the film:

“1940, London, the Blitz; with the country’s morale at stake, Catrin (Gemma Arterton), an untried screenwriter, and a makeshift cast and crew, work under fire to make a film to lift the nation’s flagging spirits; and inspire America to join the war. Partnered with fellow writer, Buckley (Sam Claflin), the pair, along with fading matinee idol Ambrose Hilliard (Bill Nighy), reluctantly joins forces on a movie to warm the hearts of the nation and capture the imagination of the US public.”

Nighy also discussed Their Finest in the Build Series interview and observed, “I love films or books or musicals, anything, that has big stuff to deliver but also doesn’t forget to be entertaining.”

There are no more fitting words with which to close on either count. View the video below for Nighy’s full comments on the upcoming film.